National Medal for Museum and Library Service Last updated March 16, 2025 • 9 min read From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Award given to American libraries and museums
The National Medal for Museum and Library Service is an award given annually by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to American libraries and museums with outstanding service to their communities. The IMLS refers to the medal as "the nation’s highest honor conferred on museums and libraries for service to the community." [ 1] The award is typically presented by the first lady of the United States .
U.S. highest honor for institutions that make significant and exceptional contributions to their communities. From 1994 to 1999, the award was known as the National Award for Museum Service and given to museums only. [ 2] From 2000 to 2006, it was awarded to three museums and three libraries annually, and was known as the "National Award for Museum and Library Service". From 2007 to the present, it has borne its present name, and been awarded to up to five museums and five libraries.
The lists of awardees for 1994–2009 are drawn from the 2009 medals booklet, published by the IMLS. [ 3]
2000 In 2000, the first year that the award was given to libraries, the following seven institutions received it: [ 3]
Albright-Knox Art Gallery , Buffalo, New York Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository , Kodiak, Alaska B.B. Comer Memorial Library , Sylacauga, Alabama Queens Borough Public Library , Jamaica, New York Simon Wiesenthal Center Library and Archives , Los Angeles, California Urie Elementary School Library , Lyman, Wyoming Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia , Beckley, West Virginia 2001 Alaska Resources Library and Information Services , Anchorage, Alaska Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose , San Jose, California Hancock County Library System , Bay St. Louis, Mississippi Miami Museum of Science , Miami, Florida New England Aquarium , Boston, Massachusetts Providence Public Library , Providence, Rhode Island 2002 Boundary County District Library , Bonners Ferry, Idaho Hartford Public Library , Hartford, Connecticut Please Touch Museum , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art , Loretto, Pennsylvania Southwest Georgia Regional Public Library System , Bainbridge, Georgia Wildlife Conservation Society /Bronx Zoo , Bronx, New York 2003 Bozeman Public Library , Bozeman, Montana Carnegie Science Center , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Free Library of Philadelphia , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pocahontas County Free Libraries , Marlinton, West Virginia San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts , San Angelo, Texas USS Constitution Museum , Boston, Massachusetts 2004 Chicago Botanic Garden , Chicago, Illinois Flint Public Library , Flint, Michigan Mayagüez Children's Library , Mayagüez, Puerto Rico The Regional Academic Health Center Medical Library of the University of Texas Health Science Center , San Antonio, Texas Western Folklife Center , Elko, Nevada Zoological Society of San Diego , San Diego, California 2005 COSI Toledo , Toledo, Ohio Johnson County Library , Overland Park, Kansas Levine Museum of the New South , Charlotte, North Carolina Mathews Memorial Library , Mathews, Virginia Pratt Museum , Homer, Alaska Saint Paul Public Library , Saint Paul, MN 2006 Artrain USA , Ann Arbor, Michigan Frankfort Community Public Library , Frankfort, Indiana John G. Shedd Aquarium , Chicago, Illinois Lincoln Children's Zoo , Lincoln, NE Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County , Charlotte, North Carolina San Antonio Public Library , San Antonio, Texas 2007 Birmingham Civil Rights Institute , Birmingham, Alabama Brookfield Zoo of the Chicago Zoological Society, Brookfield, Illinois Georgetown County Library , Georgetown, South Carolina Kim Yerton Branch of the Humboldt County Library , Hoopa, California Memphis Public Library & Information Center , Memphis, Tennessee National Museum of Women in the Arts , Washington, DC The Newberry Library , Chicago, Illinois Ocean County Library , Toms River, New Jersey Oregon Museum of Science and Industry , Portland, Oregon Vermont Historical Society , Barre, Vermont 2008 Buffalo Bill Historical Center , Cody, Wyoming The Franklin Institute , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania General Lew Wallace Study and Museum , Crawfordsville, Indiana Jane Stern Dorado Community Library , Dorado, Puerto Rico Kansas City Public Library , Kansas City, Missouri Lower East Side Tenement Museum , New York, New York Miami-Dade Public Library System , Miami, Florida Norton Museum of Art , West Palm Beach, Florida Skidompha Public Library , Damariscotta, Maine Skokie Public Library , Skokie, Illinois 2009 Braille Institute Library Services , Los Angeles, California Children's Museum of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal , Cincinnati, Ohio Gail Borden Public Library , Elgin, Illinois Indianapolis Museum of Art , Indianapolis, Indiana Multnomah County Library , Portland, Oregon Museum of Science & Industry , Tampa, Florida Pritzker Military Museum & Library , Chicago, Illinois Stark County District Library , Canton, Ohio Tennessee Aquarium , Chattanooga, Tennessee 2010 In 2010, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 4]
Conner Prairie Interactive History Park , Fishers, Indiana Explora , Albuquerque, New Mexico Japanese American National Museum , Los Angeles, California Mississippi Museum of Art , Jackson, MS Nashville Public Library , Nashville, Tennessee The New York Botanical Garden , Bronx, New York Patchogue-Medford Library , Patchogue, New York Peter White Public Library , Marquette, Michigan Rangeview Library District and Anythink Libraries , Adams County, Colorado West Bloomfield Township Public Library , West Bloomfield Township, Michigan 2011 In 2011, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 5]
Alachua County Library District , Gainesville, Florida Brooklyn Museum , Brooklyn, New York Columbus Metropolitan Library , Columbus, Ohio EdVenture Children's Museum , Columbia, South Carolina Erie Art Museum , Erie, Pennsylvania Hill Museum & Manuscript Library , Collegeville, Minnesota Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden , Richmond, Virginia Madison Children's Museum , Madison, Wisconsin San Jose Public Library , San Jose, California Weippe Public Library & Discovery Center , Weippe, Idaho 2012 In 2012, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 6]
Bootheel Youth Museum , Malden, Missouri Contra Costa County Library , Pleasant Hill, California Cumberland County Public Library , Fayetteville, North Carolina Garfield Park Conservatory , Chicago, Illinois Long Island Children's Museum , Garden City, New York Museum of Contemporary Art , North Miami, Florida Naturita Community Library , Naturita, Colorado Pacific Science Center , Seattle, Washington Park View High School Library Media Center , Sterling, Virginia Shaler North Hills Library , Glenshaw, Pennsylvania 2013 In 2013, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums, and presented by First Lady Michelle Obama : [ 1]
Boston Children's Museum , Boston, Massachusetts Columbus Museum of Art , Columbus, Ohio Delta Blues Museum , Clarksdale, Mississippi Discovery Science Center , Santa Ana, California Marshalltown Public Library , Marshalltown, Iowa National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library , Cedar Rapids, Iowa Pierce County Library System , Tacoma, Washington Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County , Cincinnati, Ohio Rancho Cucamonga Public Library , Rancho Cucamonga, California Waukegan Public Library , Waukegan, Illinois 2014 In 2014, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 7] [ 8] [ 9]
Chicago Public Library , Chicago, Illinois Brooklyn Botanic Garden , Brooklyn, New York Las Vegas-Clark County Library District , Las Vegas, Nevada Mid-Continent Public Library , Independence, Missouri [ 10] Mystic Aquarium , Mystic, Connecticut North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences , Raleigh, North Carolina Octavia Fellin Public Library , Gallup, New Mexico Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History , Norman, Oklahoma The Children's Museum of Indianapolis , Indianapolis, Indiana Yiddish Book Center , Amherst, Massachusetts 2015 In 2015, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 11]
Amazement Square , Lynchburg, Virginia Cecil County Public Library , Elkton, Maryland Craig Public Library , Craig, Alaska Embudo Valley Library and Community Center , Dixon, New Mexico Los Angeles Public Library , Los Angeles, California Louisiana Children’s Museum , New Orleans, Louisiana Museum of Northern Arizona , Flagstaff, Arizona New York Hall of Science , Queens, New York The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture , New York, New York The Tech Museum of Innovation , San Jose, California 2016 In 2016, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 12]
Brooklyn Public Library , Brooklyn, New York The Chicago History Museum , Chicago, Illinois Columbia Museum of Art , Columbia, South Carolina Lynn Meadows Discovery Center for Children , Gulfport, Mississippi Madison Public Library , Madison, Wisconsin Mid-America Science Museum , Hot Springs, Arkansas North Carolina State University Libraries , Raleigh, North Carolina Otis Library, Norwich, Connecticut Santa Ana Public Library , Santa Ana, California Tomaquag Museum , Exeter, Rhode Island 2017 In 2017, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 13]
Alaska State Museums , Juneau, Alaska Aspen Art Museum , Aspen, Colorado Cedar Rapids Public Library , Cedar Rapids, Iowa Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center , Skokie, Illinois Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum , Wausau, Wisconsin Long Beach Public Library , Long Beach, California Peralta Hacienda Historical Park , Oakland, California Richland Library , Columbia, South Carolina University of Minnesota Libraries , Minneapolis, Minnesota Waterville Public Library , Waterville, Maine 2018 In 2018, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 14]
Children's Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus , Denver, Colorado Detroit Historical Museum , Detroit, Michigan El Paso Museum of Art , El Paso, Texas Georgetown Public Library , Georgetown, Texas History Museum at the Castle , Appleton, Wisconsin Orange County Library System , Orlando, Florida Pueblo City–County Library District , Pueblo, Colorado Reading Public Library , Reading, Pennsylvania Rochester Public Library , Rochester, Minnesota University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History , Eugene, Oregon 2019 In 2019, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 15]
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Library , Sequim, Washington Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, Michigan New Haven Free Public Library , New Haven, Connecticut Gulfport Public Library , Gulfport, Florida Meridian District Library , Meridian, Idaho Barona Cultural Center and Museum , Lakeside, California Children's Museum , San Diego, California Historical Society of Central Florida , Orlando, Florida Lorraine Civil Rights Museum , Memphis, Tennessee South Carolina Aquarium , Charleston, South Carolina 2020 No awards were made in 2020.
2021 In 2021, the award was given to the following six libraries and museums: [ 16]
Cabell County Public Library , Huntington, West Virginia Highwood Public Library , Highwood, Illinois Memphis Public Libraries , Memphis, Tennessee High Desert Museum , Bend, Oregon Mississippi Children's Museum , Jackson, Mississippi Museo de Arte de Ponce , Ponce, Puerto Rico 2022 In 2022, the award was given to the following six libraries and museums: [ 17]
Amistad Research Center , New Orleans, Louisiana St. Louis County Library , St. Louis, Missouri Wilmington Institute Free Library, Wilmington, Delaware Asheville Art Museum , Asheville, North Carolina Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture , Seattle, Washington Oakland Museum of California , Oakland, California 2023 In 2023, the award was given to the following eight libraries and museums: [ 17]
Kuskokwim Consortium Library, Bethel, Alaska LA County Library , Los Angeles, California Long Branch Free Public Library, Long Branch, New Jersey Toledo-Lucas County Public Library , Toledo, Ohio Center of Science and Industry (COSI) , Columbus, Ohio Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum , Buffalo, Wyoming Museum of Discovery and Science , Fort Lauderdale, Florida Riverside Art Museum , Riverside, California 2024 In 2024, the award was given to the following ten libraries and museums: [ 18]
Libraries :
Museums :
References 1 2 "National Medal for Museum and Library Service to Be Awarded Today at White House" . May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . ↑ Lucia Herndon (October 21, 2003). "Philadelphia Free Library to get a national honor for service" . Philadelphia Inquirer . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . 1 2 "2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" (PDF) . December 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . ↑ "2010 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" (PDF) . November 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . ↑ "2011 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" (PDF) . November 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . ↑ "Institute of Museum and Library Services Announces Recipients of 2012 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" . November 5, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2013 . ↑ "Chicago Public Library to receive national medal from first lady - Chicago Tribune" . Articles.chicagotribune.com. May 6, 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2014 . ↑ "Press Releases First Lady Michelle Obama Presents National Medal for Museum and Library Service at White House Event" . Imls.gov. May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2014 . ↑ "2014 National Medals for Museum and Library Service" . YouTube. April 24, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014 . ↑ "National Medal | mymcpl.org - Mid-Continent Public Library" . mymcpl.org. Retrieved May 14, 2014 . ↑ "Recipients of Nation's Highest Museum and Library Honor Announced" . Imls.gov. April 21, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2016 . ↑ "Ten Winners of Nation's Highest Museum and Library Honor Announced" . Imls.gov. April 19, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2016 . ↑ "2017 National Medal Winners" . Imls.gov. Retrieved May 30, 2017 . ↑ "2018 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" . Institute of Museum and Library Services . March 5, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018 . ↑ "IMLS Announces 10 Recipients of Nation's Top Award for Museums and Libraries" . Institute of Museum and Library Services . May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2021 . ↑ "Six Museums and Libraries Selected for IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Service" . www.imls.gov . 1 2 "IMLS National Medal Winners" . www.imls.gov . Retrieved November 8, 2023 . ↑ "2024 National Medal for Museum and Library Service" . www.imls.gov . Retrieved May 26, 2024 . This page is based on this
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